The Nintendo Switch 2 had its big debut on Wednesday, and the new console looks to be a sizable, if mostly straightforward, upgrade over its mega-popular predecessor. Tucked between the new Donkey Kong and (pricier) Mario Kart games, mouse mode and overhauled party chat features, though, was another significant update: The device supports faster microSD Express cards. This may not be the sexiest feature, but it should bring quicker load times and generally improved storage performance to the upcoming handheld. The company briefly showed new 256GB cards from Samsung and SanDisk during its presentation, complete with Mario logos printed on. However, the news came with a major caveat: The console is only compatible with microSD Express. The cards most people use today which are based on the older UHS-I bus interface will only work for loading videos and screenshots from an original Switch, not playing games, according to Nintendos support site. Nintendo says this restriction is necessary to preserve the Switch 2s performance upgrades, and its worth noting that the console itself comes with a much more generous 256GB of space by default. But if you ever need to expand the devices storage, this change will likely make doing so cost extra, while drastically shrinking the options you have to choose from. Unlike traditional UHS-I cards, a microSD Express card like the SanDisk model on the right comes with a second row of pins on the back. Jeff Dunn for Engadget What are microSD Express cards? SD Express is a relatively recent but seldom-used standard that lets SD cards take advantage of the NVMe protocol and PCIe interface, which is the underlying tech used by SSDs. A microSD Express card has a second row of pins on its back and can utilize a single lanes worth of PCIe bandwidth. As a result, it can produce dramatically faster read and write speeds than its UHS-I counterparts. Whereas the latter advertise sequential transfer rates up to 104 megabytes per second (MB/s), microSD Express cards have a theoretical maximum of 985 MB/s. Thats far behind the NVMe SSDs used by the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but in theory, it makes Express cards faster than some older SATA-based SSDs when it comes to loading game levels, retrieving saves or copying games to the external storage. Its worth noting that many UHS-I microSD cards can exceed the 104 MB/s limit with proprietary card readers, but they still fall well short of microSD Express levels even with those. The same goes for speedier UHS-II cards, which are mostly used by professional types with select cameras and PCs and max out at 312 MB/s. (Theres also a UHS-III interface, but nobody uses it. Getting all of this?) Prior to Wednesday, the only reliably available microSD Express card we could find was this model from SanDisk. We recently tested it for our microSD card buying guide, and the upgrade was pretty dramatic. In the synthetic benchmark CrystalDiskMark, the SanDisk card achieved sequential reads up to 899.12 MB/s and sequential writes up to 650.41 MB/s. For comparison, the absolute fastest UHS-I card weve tested (Lexars Professional Silver Plus) topped out at 209.25 MB/s for reads and 193.93 MB/s for writes so, three to four times slower. In one of our real-world tests, the SanDisk Express card took an average of 20 seconds to move a 12GB folder containing various file types and subfolders to a PC and 52 seconds to write the folder back to the card. The Lexar card averaged 67 and 76 seconds, respectively. The gulf in random speeds which measure how quickly a card can read and write small bits of data scattered throughout a device and tend to be particularly important for gaming was similarly large, and in some benchmarks even greater. SanDisk's microSD Express card is one of the (very) few options you can actually buy today. Jeff Dunn for Engadget Nintendo has not provided any official transfer speed ratings for the new console just yet, but all of this suggests that the Switch 2s storage should be much faster than before, even if its not on par with the speeds of a PS5 or Xbox Series X. Its also possible that, like those other consoles, the Switch 2 has hardware dedicated to decompressing files, which could make the real-world improvements over the original Switchs storage performance even greater. (Weve reached out to Nintendo and will update this post if we receive any further details.) The original SD Express standard was released in 2018, but the tech has mostly gone nowhere in the years since. Theres been the SanDisk card noted above, a full-size SD card from ADATA and not much else. Previously, Samsung and Lexar announced microSD Express cards that wound up missing their original release windows though Samsungs card may just be the same one unveiled today, and Lexar did release a new Play Pro microSD Express card on Wednesday. Host devices that support the standard, which are required to even see any improved speeds, have been highly uncommon over the same time frame. (If you put a microSD Express card in a device that doesnt support the underlying tech, such as the original Switch, itll be limited to standard UHS-I speeds.) And while compatible card readers can deliver the faster transfer rates on certain PCs, they arent cheap, so at that point most people have been better off buying a faster external SSD. The SD Association pointed us to a LinkedIn page (!) with other compatible devices when reached for comment, but the pickings are still slim, and very few of those support microSD Express cards specifically. The Switch 2 is by far the highest-profile device to embrace the standard, so it could be the thing that finally takes these cards from cool idea to useful niche. The Samsung and SanDisk microSD Express cards Nintendo quickly teased during its Switch 2 unveiling on Wednesday. Nintendo Questions of price and heat That said, there are multiple reasons why SD Express has failed to take off before this week, and it remains to be seen whether the Switch 2 will truly fix them. First and foremost is price. Weve reached out to SanDisk and Samsung for confirmation, but for now we dont know how much the microSD Express cards that Nintendo has teased will cost. If the couple other Express models available today are any indication, though, theyre likely to be much more expensive than the conventional cards you may have bought for the previous Switch. SanDisks Express card, for instance, costs $45 for a 128GB model and $60 for the 256GB version. The 256GB Lexar Play Pro is $10 cheaper, but its 512GB and 1TB versions cost a whopping $100 and $200, respectively. For reference, Samsungs Pro Plus another UHS-I card we recommend in our buying guide costs $17 for 128GB, $23 for 256GB, $38 for 512GB and $80 for 1TB as of this writing. Thats a huge difference. Whats more, the Play Pro is the only purchasable microSD Express card weve seen thus far that even supports capacities greater than 256GB. Nintendo says the console can support up to 2TB of external storage, but no Express card with that capacity appears to exist yet. The Switch 2 will be one of the first mainstream devices to truly push SD Express in earnest, so wed expect itll drive prices down and increase competition over time. But how quickly, and by how much, remains up in the air. Nintendo The other concern relates to thermal management. MicroSD Express cards can pump out significantly faster transfer speeds, but theyre still working with tiny little frames that dont leave much room to dissipate heat. When we tested SanDisks microSD Express model for our guide, we noticed that it slowed down under longer, more sustained loads not enough to fall behind than UHS-I cards, but still below its peak by a few hundred MB/s. The SD Express spec does have mechanisms for keeping heat in check, and manufacturers like SanDisk advertise similar protections. Nintendo presumably has come up with ways to further avoid severe throttling with the Switch 2. (We already know that the new dock comes with a cooling fan built in, for instance.) But itll be something to keep an eye on once we can move large game files around the device. In a developer Q&A posted to Nintendos website on Wednesday, Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto notes that the move to microSD Express will help the consoles performance hold up better in the long-term. With the new Mario Kart World, for instance, he says the faster transfer speeds will help make far-off destinations in the games open world visible faster. He also notes that Switch 2 games will have larger file sizes, but that he doubt[s] most people will need a microSD Express card immediately after buying the system thanks to the Switch 2s larger built-in capacity. Hopefully thats the case. Itd be unfair to call this a PlayStation Vita situation, as that portable console relied solely on proprietary memory cards, and the Switch 2 will support options from several third-party manufacturers. But as it stands now, storage upgrades for the new console look like theyll be much pricier and more limited to start. And just how much of an advantage the new tech provides is something we wont know until the console arrives in June. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-nintendo-switch-2-promises-major-storage-upgrades-but-itll-cost-you-193758964.html?src=rss

Google and MediaTek join forces on next-gen AI chips, aiming for more affordable and efficient TPUs set to launch in 2026.

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Eric Trump told CNBC that his family was "driven toward cryptocurrency" due to the way their business was treated.

The world is bracing for impact as the so-called Liberation Day arrives Wednesdaythe latest installment of President Trumps tariff announcements since his return to office in January.In a Rose Garden address at 4 p.m. ET, the president is set to unveil a sweeping reciprocal tariff plan, targeting not only Mexico, Canada, and China, but also other countries in a trade surplus with the U.S. or those holding tariffs on American products.It is still unclear what countries and industries will be impacted by todays announcement, as well as the rate of tariffs imposed, and if they will be imposed universally or by country. However, the policy changes are said to go into effect after his speech.While much is still uncertain, here is how many world leaders are reacting ahead of Trumps Liberation Day speech.MexicoPresident Claudia Sheinbaums cool head approach has helped Mexico evade some of Trumps tariffs since he first announced 25% levies on Mexican exports in early February. Sheinbaum said Wednesday in her daily morning briefing that she would announce an integral plan on Thursday. Our interest is to strengthen the Mexican economy, Sheinbaum said. Its not an issue of if you tariff me, I tariff you.CanadaFollowing on-again-off-again tariffs between the U.S. and Canadathe country America long considered its closest allyCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Trump that Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on American exports, although no specifics have been revealed yet.ChinaIn early February, Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all Chinese imports, upending a tariff war between the worlds two largest economies. After the U.S. raised tariffs to 20% in early March, China responded with retaliatory tariffs, with 10% and 15% levies on various food and agricultural goods.Ahead of Liberation Day, China held economic dialogue with Japan and South Korea, seeking a coordinated response among the three nations. However, Japanese and South Korean officials said that decision was not taken.EUAhead of the April 2 announcement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, Europe did not start this confrontation, we do not necessarily want to retaliate, but if it is necessary, we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it.In early March, the European Commission responded to Trumps tariffs on aluminum and steel by launching swift and proportionatecountermeasures on U.S. imports into the EU, a statement read. Countermeasures included tariffs on American goods such as bourbon and motorbikes worth up to $28 billion in exports.

An artificial intelligence watchdog is accusing OpenAI of training its default ChatGPT model on copyrighted book content without permission.In a new paper published this week, the AI Disclosures Project alleges that OpenAI likely trained its GPT-4o model using nonpublic material from OReilly Media. The researchers used a legally obtained dataset of 34 copyrighted OReilly books and found that GPT-4o showed strong recognition of the companys paywalled content. By contrast, GPT-3.5 Turbo appeared more familiar with publicly accessible OReilly book samples.These results highlight the urgent need for increased corporate transparency regarding pre-training data sources as a means to develop formal licensing frameworks for AI content training, the authors wrote in the paper. Tim OReilly, one of the papers authors, is a cofounder and CEO of OReilly Media. An OpenAI spokesperson didnt immediately respond to Fast Companys request for comment. Training data lies at the heart of all artificial intelligence models. Large language models (LLMs) require an incredible amount of information that it uses to guide back on when it churns out text or images for users.OpenAI has struck up some licensing deals to be able to train their models on certain content. But the company, which recently fundraised and is worth $300 billion, has also come under fire for sourcing certain content. The New York Times, for example, is leading a charge against OpenAI and minority owner Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement.The researchers acknowledged limitations in their study but argued that the issue is likely part of a broader systemic problem in how large language models are developed.Sustainable ecosystems need to be designed so that both creators and developers can benefit from generative AI, the authors wrote. Otherwise, model developers are likely to rapidly plateau in their progress, especially as newer content becomes produced less and less by humans.

Back in 2016, the original Nintendo Switch felt like a revelation. Not because it packed bleeding-edge specs or boasted VR-ready horsepower, but because it just made sense. A home console you could pull out of its dock and carry with you it was weird, playful, and perfectly Nintendo. Nearly a decade later, todays announcement of the Switch 2 proves that Nintendo still plays by its own rules, taking its sweet time while the rest of the industry sprints on an annual hamster wheel.Nintendo dropped the Switch 2 reveal without a fireworks-laden event or a billion-dollar livestream. Just a quietly confident YouTube video showing off the hardware in clean, minimalist shots, motion graphics, and those now-iconic silhouetted hands. No theatrics, no overblown stage demos. Yet, within hours, the video racked up half a million views. Its the kind of flex that only comes when you know your audience trusts you implicitly.Designer: NintendoAnd why wouldnt they? The original Switch, despite being underpowered compared to the PlayStation and Xbox crowd, remained sold out for nearly a year post-launch. In fact, even in 2025, its still thriving, buoyed by Nintendos near-flawless first-party catalog. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate these games still feel fresh to new players and veterans alike. Nintendo wasnt chasing specs back then, and it certainly isnt now.The Switch 2 does bring upgrades, but you wont find Nintendo trying to win a teraflop arms race. The handheld now sports a 7.9-inch 1080p LCD with HDR and up to 120fps refresh rates. Dock it, and youll get up to 4K resolution, complete with a much-needed cooling fan to keep things stable during long sessions of Metroid Prime 4. Internally, it bumps up to 256GB of storage (though youll need MicroSD Express cards for expansion). Game Cards are sticking around but have been updated for faster read speeds a quiet nod to physical media diehards.The Joy-Con controllers are bigger and more comfortable, now featuring larger shoulder buttons and a new C button dedicated to GameChat Nintendos built-in voice chat and screen-sharing system. Yes, voice chat is finally here, native to the console, without the clunky smartphone app workaround. A microphone tucked into the top picks up voices clearly, even with background noise, and screen-sharing lets you show off your gameplay to friends in real time.Then theres the wildcard: mouse support. By sliding the Joy-Con along a flat surface, it doubles as a physical mouse. This mechanic already fuels new games like Drag x Drive, a Rocket League meets NBA Jam mashup that uses dual-mouse controls for surprisingly fluid movement and shooting. Even existing titles like Mario Party Jamboree and Metroid Prime 4 will take advantage of this feature, with players able to aim and interact more intuitively.And while the visual uplift is nice Zelda titles, for example, will get free 4K-enhanced Switch 2 Editions for Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers its the longevity of software that steals the spotlight. Nintendos library ages like fine wine, and the Switch 2 respects that. You dont have to repurchase everything; upgrade packs and enhanced editions are available, extending the life of beloved games without forcing you to start over.The new console isnt arriving alone. Launching June 5th, it brings along heavy-hitters like Mario Kart World, featuring 24-player races and free-roam tracks. FromSoftware is throwing in The Duskbloods, a gothic action RPG exclusive, and even Kirby is making an open-world comeback. Plus, GameCube classics like F-Zero GX and The Wind Waker are returning, playable through the Switch 2s online service complete with a retro-inspired wireless GameCube controller.Where competitors race to push out yearly hardware iterations wrapped in billion-dollar spectacles, Nintendo is content releasing something only when its ready. The Switch 2 didnt need a massive keynote or a sprawling influencer campaign. It needed a quiet confidence, a respect for players, and the kind of design that serves people, not shareholders.The post Nintendos Switch 2 Launch Is Proof That You Dont Need New Tech & Flashy Keynotes Every Year first appeared on Yanko Design.

PC customization has reached new heights in recent years, with enthusiasts constantly seeking fresh ways to personalize their rigs. While RGB lighting strips and transparent cases have become standard fare, these modifications often lack true personalization. Static designs might showcase your components, but they dont really express your unique style or interests. Enter the Coolify HOLO fan an innovative cooling solution that doubles as a customizable display to make your PC truly one-of-a-kind.This clever device combines the essential function of a case fan with cutting-edge visual technology to create what appears to be floating 3D images inside your PC. While not technically a true hologram (despite the marketing), the effect is nonetheless striking and guaranteed to turn heads. The fan uses a phenomenon called persistence of vision, the same principle that makes movie frames blend together into smooth motion, to create the illusion of floating images as its high-speed blades spin with precisely timed LED patterns.Designer: CoolifyThe magic happens through a single row of 96 LEDs embedded in the fan blades that flash in carefully synchronized patterns as they rotate. Your brain perceives these rapid light pulses as a continuous image, creating the illusion of a floating display. The effect works best with circular images that complement the fans rotation, though you can upload virtually any content you want, from animated logos to custom artwork or even short video clips, making each setup truly unique to its owner.At 120mm, the HOLO fan fits standard PC case mounting points, making installation straightforward for most builders. The 4.1-inch display area provides ample space for your custom visuals without compromising cooling performance, though the low DPI wont be as detailed as the marketing images would have you believe. Unlike many PC modifications that sacrifice function for form, the Coolify fan maintains effective airflow while adding visual flair, ensuring your components stay cool even during intense gaming sessions or demanding creative work.Setting up your custom display happens through the fans WiFi connectivity, with the sole cable connection used for power only. Simply connect to the fan through the dedicated Coolify app, upload your chosen images or animations, and watch them come to life inside your PC case. The only physical connection required is the power cable, eliminating the need for complex wiring or controller boxes that might clutter your carefully planned build.The visual impact is particularly impressive in darkened rooms, where the illuminated images seem to float mysteriously within your PC case. For streamers and content creators who frequently showcase their setups, the HOLO fan offers a dynamic way to display channel logos, animations, or other branded content. Gamers might choose to display faction symbols from their favorite titles, while creative professionals could showcase their artwork or company logos during client presentations. Rather than settling for generic RGB effects or static designs, builders can now incorporate dynamic, changeable content that reflects their current interests, projects, or moods.The post Coolify HOLO Fan Brings Eye-Catching Holographic Displays to Your PC first appeared on Yanko Design.

Industry chat suggests Bill Gates might be wrong.